Wildway

This week we received an RFP to pitch our product to K-12 school districts. In order to get our products approved, we had to make sure that they qualified as a “smart snack” by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. The Alliance’s vision is: “We envision a world where every mind, every body, and every young person is healthy and ready to succeed.” I think, “Oh, no problem, our products are made with only nuts, seeds, and dried fruit with no added sugars or junk, so we shouldn’t have a problem qualifying.” But just to be sure, I went to their website where they have a “calculator” that you can put in some information on the ingredients, and nutrition facts and it will spit out a determination if you qualify as a “smart snack”. Come to find out. We don’t qualify. Too many calories and too many calories coming from fat (walnuts). 🤔 This prompted me to try a few other products in the calculator to see what the Alliance for a Healthier Generation actually considered a “smart snack”. Turns out Lucky Charms, Cookie Crisp, and Cocoa Puffs cereals all qualified. 🤔 Can't think of a smarter snack to feed our children than those. The Alliance talks about their “commitment to transforming children's health”, and they do this, “Through our evidence-based programming and innovative resources, we empower those who work closely with children to help them develop lifelong healthy habits.” So... make sure you're choosing the "smart snacks" for your kids. And welcome to opposite day.... Link to the calculator below. https://lnkd.in/gDyjR4Dj

11 years ago, Wildway was founded with a mission to make better, healthier breakfast and snack foods. We made simple products with real-food ingredients. We wanted to get people “back to the Wild”—back to a time when food was made in the field and not the lab. Our products found a niche in the grain-free space (when it was very much in its infancy), and we rode that wave for years with lots of great growth. What started as an ode to real-food quickly became encapsulated in diet culture. Paleo. Keto. Low-Carb. Grain-free.  While the keywords converted and retailers loved it, I never wanted to run a company synonymous with diet culture. It was much more than that to me. What became very evident to me early on as an entrepreneur in this space is that our food system is incredibly broken, and diet culture certainly is more a part of the problem than the solution. Today, we’re focused a lot more on how our ingredients are grown, where they come from, and the impact they can have on our climate health and human health if taken care of in the right way. If we’re truly going to get “back to the Wild” then we must embrace the agricultural principles that take us there. This month, we launched our first Regenerative Organic Certified product in Whole Foods Market Northeast and Southern Cali. This is an incredible collaboration between multiple Regenerative Organic farmers and stakeholders, and I could not be prouder of the result. We also launched these in 100% home compostable packaging made from cassava and beetroot fibers in an effort to remove as much petroleum-based plastic from our supply chain as possible. The future of food is regenerative, organic, ethical, and beyond sustainable. This is the future we are promising. Welcome to the next phase of Wildway. https://lnkd.in/dYqi8R5k Regenerative Organic Alliance #regenerativeorganic